A black woman poured black paint over New York City’s Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower in New York City on Saturday.
Bevelyn Beatty, a Christian woman and activist with “At the Well Ministries,” wore a T-shirt that said “Jesus Matters” and repeatedly called for the refunding of police departments while spreading black paint on the leftist slogan, according to an Instagram video she posted of the encounter.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Bevelyn Beatty (@bevelynbeatty) on
“Take our country back!” Beatty captioned the video of her actions via Instagram. “We are going to take our country back! By any means necessary! #JesusMatters #RiseUp.”
Beatty, and the two black Christian women who assisted her, said “all lives matter” and it was “time to take our country back.”
CBS New York reported that the scene turned chaotic when police officers tried to arrest Beatty, and she apparently resisted, causing one of the officers to fall on the concrete on Fifth Avenue, suffering an injury to his shoulder and wincing in pain.
It took several minutes for backup officers to apprehend the woman, covered in black paint. Police also arrested a second woman in connection with the incident.
Police say Beatty, 29, and Edmee Chavannes, 39, both of Staten Island were each charged with criminal mischief and given desk appearance tickets before being released.
CBS New York reported that the injured officer was taken to a local hospital with non-serious injuries.
This is only one of the few times Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sanctioned Black Lives Matter mural has been defaced over the weekend.
On Friday, police found the mural’s yellow lettering covered in blue paint by 5 p.m. and discovered four people with blue paint smeared on their hands and clothing, NY1 News reported.
Police said Juliet Germanotta, 39, Luis Martinez, 44, and D’Anna Morgan, 25, were each charged with one count of criminal mischief and given a desk appearance ticket.
Police also issued a summons to the fourth person, a 64-year-old woman, for illegally posting flyers.